SAVING LUCENA CITY’S HERITAGE ICONS

 THE ZABALLERO mansion along Allarey and Zamora Streets in Lucena City was built during
the boom of the copra period in early 1900s. DELFIN T. MALLARI JR.

With the 77-year-old iconic, stonewalled Philippine National Railway (PNR) station in Lucena City
gone in a controversial way, the once lethargic public concern over the fate of other heritage sites
and structures in the capital city of Quezon province has awakened.

It was in Lucena that Calixto Zaballero built a house for his family in the 1920s; an opulent mansion
made of wood that was sometimes called Malacañang by some friends of the family.

In January 2014, Lucena lost its most iconic heritage structure—the Villa Perez mansion along
Quezon Avenue built in 1907—when it was demolished to clear the way for the six-story Systems
Technology Institute (STI) school building.
Villariba named the Zaballero mansion on Allarey and Zamora Streets and the Daleon ancestral
house along Merchan Street some of the old residential houses built during the American period.

The stately facade of the Zaballero mansion has been preserved but it has been converted into a
coffee shop. On the other hand, the imposing concrete Daleon house is still being occupied by
clan members.

THE VILLA PEREZ MANSION BEFORE IT WAS DEMOLISHED

The demolition job of the wood-and-concrete structure started on Jan. 2 and took only a week to
finish. A six-story building of Systems Technology Institute (STI) is to rise from the site after the
groundbreaking program on Jan. 9.

Built in the early 1900s, Villa Perez was the residential house of former Quezon Gov. Felimon Perez,
who served as a Cabinet secretary during the administration of then President Manuel L. Quezon.
According to Carlos Villariba, historical consultant of the provincial government, the structure was
completed sometime in 1907 after Perez, then 24, returned to the country from his study in the
United States.

MARKER

Citing accounts of his late father Cesar, a known local historian, Villariba said the house was a gift
of Don Simeon Perez, who earned a reputation of being the “coconut king” for his vast coconut
plantation, to his only child, Felimon.

Despite its antiquity and place in history, Villa Perez bore no marker from the National Historical
Institute (NHI). Don Felimon, who died in the United States in 1938, is remembered by Lucena
residents as the donor of a seven-hectare land next to his mansion, which is currently occupied by
the provincial capitol building and other provincial offices, the mammoth Quezon Convention
Center, judicial courthouse, provincial jail compound and the widely popular Perez Park.

Demolition workers said the old house was already empty when they tore it down. “We were told
that the house had long been empty of furniture, beds, chairs and tables. It was totally bare,” one
of them said.